Meredith Monk: Atlas (1993)

In the annals of modernist performance, the idea of representation is transfigured through the body in space as it becomes shaped by theatrical expression. This persistent though often overlooked theme of theatrical modernism, extending from its beginnings in Symbolism to our own turn-of-century, is at the core of Meredith Monk's oeuvre, and nowhere is this more evident than in her first full-scale opera, Atlas. In Atlas, the familiar boundary lines of operatic narrative are dissolved. Her musical sections, often based on the simplest diatonic or modal harmonies, depend largely on their constructions of vocal techniques that encompass glottal effects, ululation, yodeling, speech song, animal sounds, and vocalization. Thus, powered by unconventional inventions, each new component of the drama takes on a particular color and character of its own.

Tracklist

CD 1

Part I: Personal Climate
1. Overture (Out of Body 1) 3'07
2. Travel Dream Song 5'07
3. Home Scene 2'38
4. Future Quest (The Call) 11'15
5. Rite of Passage A 0'57
6. Choosing Companions 7'44
7. Airport 9'19

Part II: Night Travel
8. Night Travel 3'14
9. Guides' Dance 1'51
10. Agricultural Community 14'36

CD 2

1. Loss Song 4'14
2. Campfire/Hungry Ghost 7'43
3. Father's Hope 1'43
4. Ice Demons 6'20
5. Explorer #5/Lesson/Explorer's Procession 6'04
6. Lonely Spirit 3'33
7. Forest Questions 10'19
8. Desert Tango 7'52
9. Treachery (Temptation) 2'11
10. Possibility of Destruction 2'46

Part III: Invisible Light
11. Out of Body 2 2'58
12. Other Worlds Revealed 1'28
13. Explorers' Junctures 2'42
14. Earth Seen From Above 7'34
15. Rite of Passage B 1'42

ECM 1491/92
Recorded June 1992